218 
INSULARITY. 
There is a very different state of things in Germany, and 
more or less, in most European countries nowadays. And 
America is undoubtedly far in advance of Europe in this 
respect. I feel that we provincials have much to learn from 
this point of view, which, if learnt, would make our local 
collections of far greater value than they are at present, and 
our local journals of more than what they are now, of 
merely ephemeral interest. From the working zoologist’s or 
botanist’s point of view, they are both of them at present—- 
generally speaking—what the French would call a negligable 
quantity. 
It would be all very well if we could only suppose that 
Great Britain formed anything approaching to a natural 
zoological or botanical region. But we cannot pretend to 
maintain this view. As far as zoology is concerned—with 
which I am more conversant, and to which you will kindly 
take my remarks as principally referring—Great Britain 
cannot be looked upon as forming even the semblance of a 
definite natural region; our fauna is almost exactly identical 
with that of Western Europe in general; but I believe that 
the same is also the case with the flora. As far as birds are 
concerned, we have only one species—the red grouse— 
which can be considered peculiar to Britain, and a few sub¬ 
species, such as the British forms of the long-tailed, and 
coal titmice. Our mountain aud winter birds are all but 
identical with those of Northern Europe, and our lowland 
and summer birds with those of Central Europe — the 
principal difference being, that our British list is poorer in 
the number of species. It is generally admitted by zoologists 
that the whole of Europe, Africa (north of the Sahara), Asia 
Minor, and Palestine and Arabia, and all Asia north of the 
Himalayas and the Yangtse Kiang basin, form one large 
natural zoological region. This is divided into two sub- 
regions, by drawing a line southwards down the Ural 
Mountains to the Persian Gulf, into the Eastern and Western 
Palaearctic sub-regions. 
It would indeed be strange, in face of this system, if the 
fauna of our islands were thought to be worth studying 
independently, seeing the facility with which birds can, under 
favourable circumstances, and do habitually, make nothing of 
its boundaries. 
It is to our manifest disadvantage, therefore, if we attempt 
to restrict our studies to mere local matters. Our scientific 
horizon is, of necessity, in that case a very narrow and limited 
one, if we steadfastly ignore all the rest of the world. To 
take an example, there are a certain number of birds which 
